Bibi, Zuckerberg, Giffords make Time’s list of most influential

NEW YORK (JTA) — Benjamin Netanyahu, Mark Zuckerberg and Gabrielle Giffords are among Time magazine’s list of the most influential people of the year.

The magazine’s list of the most influential people in the world, the 2011 Time 100, came out Thursday.

Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, leads a country that is successful economically and its citizens feel relatively safe, writes Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations.

But Haass adds that "Most of the world views Israel as the principal obstacle to Middle East peace" — a process that will decide his legacy and the future of the Jewish state.

In writing about Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, the mayor of a Connecticut city, East Haven’s April Capone, writes of answering a call on the social networking site by a resident who needed a kidney transplant.

Giffords, the Arizona congresswoman who is rehabilitating after being shot in the head in January, is praised in the Time segment by President Obama for her "hard work and fair play, hope and resilience." Obama says Giffords is "a model of civility and courage and unity — a needed voice that cannot return soon enough."

Among the leading Jews joining the trio on the list are Matthew Weiner, creator of "Mad Men"; virus hunter Nathan Wolfe; Larry Page, a co-founder of Google; producer Scott Rudin; and economist Joseph Stiglitz.